A sentencing hearing is to begin today for a Calgary man convicted of killing Sara Baillie, 34, and Taliyah Marsman, 5.Facebook

Family members of slain Sara Baillie and her five-year-old daughter Taliyah Marsman sobbed as their killer was described as “evil” and “a monster” in court Friday.

As the sentencing hearing for the July 2016 first-degree murders began, six victim-impact statements were read in court as convicted killer Edward Downey, 49, stared straight ahead, showing no emotion during the anguish-charged session.

“You dumped (Taliyah) in the bushes like trash at the side of the highway,” said Scott Hamilton, Baillie’s uncle, who described the crimes as “senseless acts of evil.”

“Was Taliyah crying out for her mom, was she crying out for her grandma, was she wondering why her family wasn’t there for her?”

He called for a maximum sentence of 50 years without parole so that “even my children won’t have to attend a parole board hearing . . . I can’t forgive and I won’t forget the evil Mr. Downey delivered.”

In a statement read by Crown prosecutor Ryan Jenkins, Baillie’s mother, Janet Fredette, said losing her daughter and granddaughter robbed her of a reason to live.

“I did not lose hope, rather it was stolen from me,” she said.

“As for Taliyah, hope for an entire lifetime is gone . . . this is a dark and lonely place that haunts me every day.”

A jury found Edward Downey guilty last December of first-degree murder in the 2016 deaths of Baillie and Taliyah.

The Crown told the trial that Downey believed Baillie had influenced her best friend to break up with him, and that Baillie had convinced that friend to refuse working for him as an escort.

Crown prosecutor Carla MacPhail further argued Friday that Baillie’s daughter was a witness who needed to be silenced, while the age and defencelessness of the girl calls for a sterner sentence.

“The planned and deliberate murder of a child is particularly amenable . . . to consequences reflective of the enormity of that decision,” she said, adding such a penalty wouldn’t amount to vengeance.

“Vengeance is what Mr. Downey visited on Sara Baillie. (Downey) traded the life of a five-year-old for the chance of escaping liability.”

Downey repeatedly denied the killings in his testimony, and his lawyers argued someone else was responsible.

The convictions come with an automatic life sentence, but Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Beth Hughes is going to determine whether Downey must wait 25 or 50 years before he can apply for parole.

The trial heard Baillie, 34, was found dead in a laundry hamper in her daughter’s closet with duct tape wrapped around her face, neck and wrists. Taliyah was missing.

The girl’s remains were found in bushes east of the city three days later.

Both died by asphyxiation.

Undated image of Edward Downey.Alberta Courts

Downey’s lawyer, Gavin Wolch, argued his client deserves a glimmer of hope that a 50-year sentence without parole would deny.

“Consecutive (parole) ineligibility would extinguish that sliver of hope,” he said, noting Downey’s family members had submitted four letters of support for him.

“You have people who believe in Mr. Downey and they have hope.”

A 50-year sentence reflects the inflexibility of the penalty guidelines that are biased against his client, said Wolch.

Downey, 49, testified that the day Baillie was found dead, he met two other men — one he called Terrance — at Baillie’s place to buy cocaine. But Downey said he left to get money from home.

Downey told court that before he left, the man identified as Terrance argued with Baillie and asked for tape. Downey said he ripped some off a roll the friend tossed to him, but didn’t think much of the request.

Two of Downey’s partial fingerprints were found on the duct tape that had been wrapped around Sara’s face, the trial heard.

The Crown told jurors that Downey invented the two men and called Downey’s version of events absurd.

Downey chose to address the court but didn’t take responsibility for the deaths.

“I’m very sorry for what happened to Sara and Taliyah, I’m very sorry to the family who lost your loved ones,” he said.

“There are things I should have did. There’s nothing I can do to bring your loved ones back.”

The case will return to court March 13 when a date for sentencing might be set.

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